This invention is directed generally to grill type cooking apparatus and particularly to simplified apparatus for converting such equipment to a grill press, that is cooking apparatus having both an upper and a lower grill surface.
In restaurants generally, and in so called fast food establishments particularly, many foods are cooked directly from a frozen state. Cooking such foods as frozen hamburger patties and frozen sausage patties requires a significant amount of time and also necesitates turning the food patties over during the cooking period. So called "clam shell" or grill press type grills are known in the art for simultaneously cooking such food on both sides. With frozen foods especially, the cooking is extremely rapid, resulting in time savings from 50%-80%. Consequently their use in fast food restaurants is highly desirable.
There are available top grill assemblies for use with commercial single grill cooking apparatus. Since the top grill assembly includes a heavy metal cooking surface that must be cantilevered so as to be openable by the operator during the cooking process, heavy counter balancing springs or weights are incorporated. The top grill mechanism must also be custom installed, by modifying the conventional single grill cooking apparatus with which it is to be used. In the prior art, these modifications have taken the form of cutting out portions of the sheet metal of the existing cooking apparatus and welding the top grill assembly thereto. Such prior art top grill assemblies also suffer from other disadvantages. For example, they are not easily adjustable to change the pressure they apply to the food being cooked and they do not adapt to variations in thickness of foods on the grill.
The top grill assembly of the invention is readily installed on conventional cooking apparatus without the use of tools, is easily adjustable in terms of the pressure it applies to food being cooked and automatically adjusts for differences between thickness of foods on the front and rear portions of the grill surface.